Spanish Health Minister says 'No' to a total ban on smoking

The Spanish Minister for Health has rejected the suggestion that smoking should be banned completely in Spain.

Trinidad Jiménez went on to describe tobacco as ‘a product which is perfectly assimilated by society’ and that a widespread ban on smoking was not the answer, describing her job as being to ‘inform of the consequences of tobacco use’. The Minister said that in Spain over 55,000 deaths per year are caused by smoking, with around 1,500 to 3,000 more indirectly in addition to this.

Given that there is a plan to introduce a ban on smoking in bars & restaurants later in the year, the minister has denied that any bars or restaurants will be forced to close by this change to the law, claiming that in other countries where similar legislation had been introduced ‘no single establishment had closed’.

Her comments come just one week after the Smokers Association in Spain claimed that they paid 9.5 billion € to the State in taxes in 2009, and described the Spanish Government as being hypocritical.